


Magic Gone Awry

by Siar



Category: Heroes of Might and Magic (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, F/M, Genderbending, Genderswap, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-29
Updated: 2019-06-29
Packaged: 2020-05-30 17:11:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19407712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Siar/pseuds/Siar
Summary: Based on Clash of Heroes. Five heroes - Anwen, Godric, Fiona, Nadia, and Aiden - get genderswapped when they are hit by spell gone awry in the Silver City of mages. Can they find a way to reverse magic or are they stuck this way forever?Request by Inudaughter Returns





	Magic Gone Awry

Things had gotten rather strange in the Silver Cities. There was a lot of reason for Aiden, Fiona, Godric, and Anwen to repent their visit to Nadia. Ever since the powerful female mage had used her failing gate crystal, nothing had gone right for them and things were about to get worse. "This is all your fault, you know!" Aiden hissed holding a flower bouquet and wearing a wedding veil across the face. "Jezebeth will mock me for all eternity!"

"Oh, come on!" said Anwen grinning slyly as Fiona silently stood in the "Father of the Bride's" place. "It isn't that bad! Just sneak away when you can! The guy's harem is huge! I'll bet you can hide among the other women and never be noticed!"

"You've got to be kidding me! I'll throw myself off a carriage first before I spend a night with this guy."

"You just need to buy us a few hours," said Nadia cutting through the chat. "Once I get my hands on the stone as agreed, I can use it to transform us all back to our original genders."

"Thank Elwrath!" said Godric rolling his eyes upwards. "I don't think I can stand wearing a ladies corset for even one second longer."

"Aw, there are ways I could help you with that problem!" said Anwen with a wink causing Godric to blush.

The whole mess the five currently were in had begun when Nadia had sent an emissary to the capital city of Talonguard to inform them that she would be unable to meet up with them for the anniversarial gathering in the memory of Godric and Anwen's late fathers, Lord Edric and Lasir. She was now fianceed to Cyrus and was reluctant to stray far from home. It would also be discourteous to leave her country now when she was so sorely needed for negotiations involving treaties and contracts her father had signed before his departure for Sheog. A lot of burden for Nadia's father's mistakes had fallen onto Cyrus and Nadia, and together they struggled through them.

Anwen had been the first to arrive at the Silver Cities for a visit. The restless elf warrioress had been exploring the wizard's capital, hoping for something that resembled elvish beer flavored with rare forest herbs. Instead she found a bar stool at a tavern crammed full of chattering young scholars of the very lowest circle. Anwen had just settled for a wine mulled from local, tropical fruits when a gruesome, diminutive creature dressed in overalls and bulging glass goggles scrambled up to her. It's claws made a rasping noise on the floor. Uglier than a dog with rabies, this "thing" was a gremlin, a creature that only the mages of the Silver Circle could summon, understand, and respect. Gremlins were very singular in that they were creatures that often slipped freely between the world of Ashan and some greater, undissolved mist. They had less to fear from the destruction of the world Ashan than most. They could always slip into the mists again, unlike the races created by the God-dragons, who were bound to Ashan as firmly as grass to sod. Yet, for the sake of curiosity, these horrific yet mechanical-minded creatures served the wizards as servants and infantryman in their armies. It was a beneficial alliance to the wizards, indeed. This particular gremlin startled Anwen by holding a wooden tube aloft containing a rolled-up note. Steeling herself, Anwen jerked free the scroll the gremlin offered, unrolled it, and began to read. It was from Nadia.

"We're found out already, Varkas!" said Anwen to her old friend. "And here I thought I was going to have a reprieve from my duties."

"A warrior never knows his first watch-fire or his last," said Varkas wisely as he patted his favorite hound on its head. The large, slightly stenched animal raised its head for a moment, then promptly flopped it down across Varkas' feet again.

"Yes. It is so," said Anwen nimbly before rising to her feet and checking the string on her bow, just in case it had loosened. It was a practice that spoke of Anwen's own emotional tension. The route to the Silver Cities had been long and dusty and arid. All she desired now was rest and a chance to rest.

The wizard's domed chapel cities were broad. The pathways of tiles laid on gravel or lines of stone block seemed to go on forever. For an elf who had just journeyed hundreds of miles across desert, this journey was a wearing one. Sweltering in the heat, Anwen sat down on the rim of a fountain whose centerpiece was a fish gushing water from its mouth. As she did so, the gremlin who had given her the letter scampered up to her and clicked its fingers. Two djinns arrived almost instantaneously, carrying a lectica, a litter looking like a transportable bed, between them. The gremlin handed two small silver coins to one of the djinn. Then with a bow, it pointed to the transport it had summoned.

"I think it wants you to get on, Lady Anwen," said Varkas with as much civility as he could for he knew Anwen would be proud. He was not mistaken.

"I am no weak, human peasant! I am a sylvan noble, and a master of magic and arms!"

"That is not at contest, my lady," soothed Varkas. "It is courtesy you are offered. You should accept. To be rude to Nadia's servant would be to be rude to Nadia herself."

"You are right, Varkas," Anwen relented softly, With much grace, she sat on her rump, letting herself perch as if she were on the ground in front of a campfire instead of feather-stuffed pillows, her ankles crossed for support. The gremlin squeaked to the djinn, and slowly for a magical creature who flew rather than walked, the djinn carried Anwen a quarter mile more to the largest domed structure in the heart of the city with domes of gold leaf and ceramic tiles baked from clay and powdered magic crystal.

One thing which Varkas lacked to aid him which Anwen was fortunate to have, was airy clothing. The mantle that she wore was sylvan. Fibers beaten from plants, hairs brushed from the manes of unicorns, leaves from the sacred tree, and silk woven from the nests left behind by moths- these were the materials used to make Anwen's green tunic and pants. Her boots, belt, and arrow quiver were fashioned from deerhide, yet another material prized by sylvan that could be reinforced by magic and skill of the craftsman to make them light and cool yet strong and swift. So it was, that despite the desert heat, Anwen's clothing did not create the discomfort of holding body heat next to her skin in the sweltering heat of the desert. Varkas had no such luck, however. Underneath his armor was spun wool and fur.

"You look unwell, Varkas!" spoke Anwen. "You take a turn on the litter."

"No need, my lady," mumbled Varkas forcing himself to pay more attention where his toes were going. He pulled his slouched shoulders back with the pride of a knight. "We are almost there!" He pointed directly ahead.

It was true. The base of an enormous tower minorete lay just ahead. Anwen shuttered. She had once been imprisoned there before Nadia had released her and Lord Bloodcrown had been defeated. Yet she stayed seated on the lectica the same as the djinn began to climb the winding staircase for her.

"Wait!" called out Anwen as Varkas fell behind.

"Don't be a hound and fall down on your face out of stubbornness," Anwen said sliding down the side of the litter. She pointed to the transport angrily. So cued, Varkas' favorite pet hound climbed on board the lectica. Accepting this trade of passenger, the djinn took off ahead. Seeing this, Anwen shrugged, then offered Varkas her shoulder instead. It was a very long stair.

But the sylvan general with long gold hair fair like the sun and an ebony bow that could sunder anything in its path as surely as lightening may split a tree, was very glad that she had come to this reunion of equals when she arrived at the top of the mammoth stair. Once she had dropped Varkas by the door to catch his breath, she peered inside the central courtroom of the Highest Silver Circle where they had fought Lord Bloodcrown long ago to see not just one familiar face, but four- Nadia, Fiona, Aiden, and best of all, Godric, her handsome long-time friend and ally. After staring at Godric so long that she had to wipe away a trace of drool, Anwen blushed.

"Hello, Anwen!" said Nadia, her face still bordered by lavender silk and a blue gemstone upon her brow. As always, her attire was billowy, sewn so that it hung to the body by its narrow cuffs more than anything else. Nadia looked tired but mostly well. She clasped Anwen's hands firmly.

"Friend! You are welcome in the Silver Cities!" Nadia declared. Anwen looked all around her.

"Is all well? There is no one to fight is there? No invading army of demons or necromancers?"

"None," Nadia smiled. "I have had a feast set up in the courtyard of the southern turret for you to refresh yourself after such a long journey. Any servant will show you to your rooms, if you have need of them. But for now, I hope you will stay and converse."

"Converse," said Anwen angling her head to fold Godric into her vision slightly. "Yes, I'll do that!" As soon as Anwen could manage it, she stood in front of Godric, the knight who traveled regularly in the company of angels and who was even more pleasant to her sight than one.

"Hello, Godric!" said Anwen merrily. "It has been a long time!"

"Lady Anwen," said Godric bowing as was proper for a noble knight. "I received your latest letter a mere two days before I departed for these Silver Cities. Has nothing changed since, then?"

"I've only come here," said Anwen, secretly pouting. "My journey here was doubly as long as yours for I started on the western edge of the continent."

"My condolences for your feet," said Fiona. Anwen studied the young woman.

"Humankind does age quickly! You are even more of a woman that I saw you last," was Anwen's compliment. Fiona's younger brother, Aiden, snickered.

"Yeah. She's full grown alight. Her and Prince Alexei keep making googly faces at each other."

"I heard that!" Fiona raged. "I may not be undead anymore, but I still have the skill of the art! Don't make me kill you then raise you as a ghoul."

"Like I'm afraid of you," said Aiden bluntly. He had, after all, faced all the demons of Sheogh on his own and they were much scarier than his older sister.

"Since we are beginning to quarrel," said their hostess, Nadia. "It would be best if we went down to the feast."

"Good idea," said Aiden placing a hand on the stomach below his belt.

"Very well!" said Nadia. They walked, not to the stair, but a large crystal.

"Is this a mystic gate?" Fiona blinked. "Why would you have one here?"

"The wizards are the ones who make most of the mystic gates, these days," Nadia put bluntly. "So we have kept a few for ourselves. This small ones leads to the southern citadel where our feast is."

"Then let's go!" shouted Aiden with much enthusiasm. They all crowded onto the tiny transport. Her back pressed up against Godric's, Anwen drunk in the sweet scent. The knight tried to ignore Anwen's presence until she whispered to him, "Cousin Findan isn't here to interrupt us now." Then the transport crystal began to shudder and shake and instead of teleporting them to where they needed to go, it split asunder leaving them all in darkness instead of its warm glow. Nadia brightened the air with an illuminating spell, her face full of worry as the light shed on all of them. Everyone of the five friends were accounted for but something was odd about them. Anwen felt just plain odd and more forceful than ever. Her shirt front slopped where her breasts should be. But nearly, choking, Aiden ripped his metallic armor off to look down at his chest.

"Ah, shit!" said the red-headed warrior as he looked down to a woman's breast that would put any succubus to shame. As he, now she, spoke, Aiden's voice rolled off the tongue in a sultry way. "Ugh..ugh...ugh!" Aiden stuttered. The spell had affected all of them the same- swapping the original birth gender of each. Things had suddenly gone all wrong for the five heroes. Nadia paused, biting her nails as she reflected on one of the largest mistakes she had ever made and hoping that she could find a way to fix it.

Yes, even Nadia was now a he, she discovered looking down at herself. At her midriff, there was a washboard of abs instead of a gentle curve. Nadia bit his, not her, nails again. "My husband to be!" she gasped. "What if Cyrus finds out?! Come on, we must leave!" Nadia squealed in earnest. But Aiden was much less inclined to leave his current spot.

"If you ask me, your lot in life just improved!" Aiden commented picking his teeth with one fingernail even if it was not just gruesome, but unwomanly. "Wizards don't put a lot of value in their women."

"That's not true!" said Nadia, her man's voice rumbling out. "Only some of them are like that, although there is an imbalance of power between the female and male mage circles."

"Don't be unladylike!" said Fiona tugging Aiden's hand away from his mouth so he couldn't pick his teeth. "If you must be a woman, at least don't go embarrassing the family."

"Put your shirt back on, Aiden!" Anwen squeaked. "You're revealing far too much!"

"Godric is doing it, too!" Aiden protested, referring to his older brother who, like him, had loosened the ties of his armor to remove them.

"Godric is keeping his tunic on, at least!" reprimanded Fiona as the aforenamed knight tugged on his, now her, thin shirt.

"Um, do you think I can borrow some clothes, Nadia?" the now female knight modestly asked. "You know, something to help with these," said Godric tucking one arm under her breasts and pressing them up into a supported position.

"You mean like a bra or a corset?

"Yeah!" said Godric. On her face was a cute and innocent look. She looked down at her chest which, while not as massive as Aiden's, was still of notable size, especially to Anwen.

"Gah!" the elf sputtered suddenly covering his crotch as its muscles flexed. "I need some air!" Anwen said hurrying in the direction of a window at the far opposite of the room as quickly as possible to hide his excited masculine features. Aiden laughed.

"Ooh, 'sister' of mine," Aiden said. "You're quite a 'girl'. All the guys are hot for you."

"Elwrath, save me!" Godric clasped folding her hands piously together.

"Nah, don't do that," said Aiden calmly. "You're only making it worse."

"Aiden's right," said Anwen, hunched over in a corner. He was holding the bridge of his nose now to keep it from bleeding.

"Why don't you go over there and 'comfort' that fine looking elf over there?" Aiden snickered giving Godric a shove. But Godric just flushed beet red instead.

"Aiden! Stop it!" she whined with a high pitch, giving Aiden a soft punch in the shoulder. "I wish this hadn't happened! What if I'm stuck like this for the rest of my life?"

"How did it happen?" asked Fiona, perplexed. "Nadia, did you mess up a spell?"

"I...I might have," Nadia struggled through the words. "But there might be something wrong with the gate, too. Something like this has never happened before."

"How often do mystic gates break?"

"Never!" said Nadia. "But this one was used rarely. I wonder why."

"This is all your fault, Nadia!" Aiden growled, less amused than before. "I liked being a man, thank you!"

"And I was courting Prince Alexei!" Fiona countered. "Don't feel sorry for just yourself."

"Friends, I am so sorry!" Nadia announced, nearly moved to tears. "I will find a way to reverse the spell if I can. But please, for now, let us leave this place. I do not want Cyrus to see me like this."

"The wedding'd be off huh?" observed Aiden. Nadia snapped her fingers and a red and blue flying carpet sailed into view. It hovered in the air before her a few inches off the ground.

"This will help us get down the staircase in good speed."

"Why didn't we just take this in the first place?" Aiden grumbled.

"Aiden!" reprimanded Godric. She strolled forward to take seat on the magic-infused tapestry. "Anger towards Nadia will not solve our problems. We must do as she says and work together to find a solution."

"So says the righteous," said Aiden. "I think you should join a convent when we get back home," Aiden commented.

"No thank you!" Godric said. "I would come to terms with this misfortune eventually." Anwen seated herself behind Godric.

"Godric has no need for a convent!" Anwen protested. "I'd marry her before I let that happen! We'd stay in the Silver Cities if we had to!" Anwen wrapped a hand round Godric's shoulder. Godric pinked.

"Enough, enough!" raged Fiona, her hands fisted. "Everyone do as Nadia says! Especially you, Aiden!" she said glaring at her younger sibling. At last, they all seated themselves on the magic carpet. As fast as a gust of winter wind, the carpet soared a few feet off the ground all the way down the long stairs of the minaret to the ground at its base. But the carpet did not stop yet. Instead, it lifted higher off the ground just enough so that it sailed above the pedestrians on the street, then swooped down to make a gentle land near a shop. There was a long back porch there. On it, a man in a turban was sewing a dress on a manikin, taking advantage of the sunlight. He looked up at their sudden arrival.

"Hello!" said the man. "Welcome to Izim's dress shop! Can I help you with something?"

"Shopkeeper Izim, do you have any women's lacings?" said Nadia. "And some pants for Fiona."

"What?" asked young woman, who now transformed into a man, was cross-dressing by wearing a long blue gown. She looked down at herself and grew flustered. "I see what you mean. If he has any men's clothing that fits, I'll take it!"

"This way, noble patrons!" said Izim. "I hope you have brought lots of gold."

Nadia herself did not change his clothes, for they were pants and a top to begin with. They were not shockingly inappropriate like Fiona's queenly gown was. Soon, the emerald green gown was folded up into a box and Fiona came out wearing puffy legged pants, a white tunic, and a wide belt. To complete her look, she had gotten herself a little pillbox hat.

"How do I look?" she asked.

"Less harsh to my eyes than your former brothers," said Nadia. "Now they are ladies more attractive and charming than we were ourselves! Even if I do manage to unwork the spell which changed us, I'll never get that image out of my mind," said Nadia holding a hand over her heart and looking sick.

It was true. Godric's gown was a conservative dress of embroidered white and golden colored cloths with a tiara on her brow. She looked saintlier than ever. Aiden had found a two-piece outfit like Nadia's so that her midriff showed. The puffy fabric of her crimson red pants and top only made Aiden curvier, especially since the collar was cut low to show off the tops of her breasts.

"Please wear a scarf over that!" Fiona complained, putting a hand up over her eyes. "Father would be so ashamed if he knew!"

"As long as you don't tell him using your necromancy, he'll never know!" Aiden said narrowing her eyes at his sibling. "As long as I'm stuck as a girl, I might as well enjoy it! So where to, now?"

"We'll go to the adventurer's tavern," said Nadia thinking deeply. "Then from there, you'll split up into groups of two to search for a solution. Anwen and Godric, you go to the counsel of senior wizards. Aiden and Fiona, you go the gatemaker's workshops. I will go to the library and try to figure out if my spell was to blame."

"Very well," said Godric boldly. "We will do as you say."

"Let's go!" said Aiden trying to step onto the magic carpet but wobbled and fell over as the carpet unexpectedly shifted. "Ow!"

"Hold still!" Nadia scolded the magical construct as they all hopped on once again. Nadia caused their ride to loop three times over mushroom-capped steeple of the local adventurer's tavern so everyone could get a good view of it. On the outside, it was just another wizard's building but empty barrels of dwarven ale were stacked outside.

"Let's go!" said Nadia. "And remember to meet back up here as soon as you can."

"Fine," said Aiden.

"Very well," said Godric.

"Great!' said Anwen grinning.

"I will do my best to complete this mission," said Fiona gravely, for she knew all of their futures and the futures of their kingdoms weighed on their success or failure.

Inside the tavern, the plain wooden tables were much the same as any pub in the Griffin Empire. Nadia pointed to a table in the corner before they dispersed.

"Okay! Whether we succeed or fail, we will all meet up here for an ale tonight! Agreed?"

"Yes," said all. Then, with the grimness of uncertain prospects, they all dispersed into groups as Nadia had suggested. Nadia hastened to the wizard's largest library, then immersed herself in the stacks. She chatted with the librarians for clues. Anwen and Godric made their way to offices of the Silver Circle's best professors. After much explanation, the senior mage cast a handful of dust into fire and spoke to his fellow elders. Soon, fifteen senior mages all stood around Anwen and Godric taking a good, long look at them.

"So do you have a cure?" asked Godric, hoping.

"No," said the first wizard they had contacted. "But my fellows are discussing setting aside some gold to fund the study of you two as a research project. We might find a solution for you two in…. twelve years."

"Great," Godric grimaced.

"Well, that's that, I guess!" said Anwen not as sadly as one might have expected under the circumstances. The reason why Anwen was not so sad was made plain as soon as they were alone again. Anwen snugged his arms around Godric's back, fanning his breath against her cheek. "Living in the Silver Cities for twelve years isn't such a harsh sentence. If we're stuck this way, we might as well get used to living this way, my lovely maiden," Anwen teased. "I know we've changed, but do you still like me?"

"Yes," Godric stuttered out.

"Good!" said Anwin before tugging Godric away from the wall, hands intertwined. Godric picked up her skirts and skipped down the street alongside Anwen.

But elsewhere, Fiona and Aiden were taking their quest for a cure far more seriously. They rung the bell to an enormous marble-walled building and stood before two broad copper doors. A gremlin opened a tiny window in one of the doors and peeked out.

"Yes?" it rasped. Aiden and Fiona stared back at it. Compared to some of the creatures the had learned to summon as generals of demons and the undead, the gremlins looked almost cute to their eyes.

"We'd like to speak to the master of this workshop about a gate," Fiona explained to the gremlin. "We'd like to have a word with as quickly as possible, if we may."

"Wait here," hissed the gremlin. After some time, five new gremlins pulled open one of the solid copper doors.

"You may come in," said the gate-keeping gremlin. They entered.

"This way!" said one of the gremlins. He led Fiona and Aiden past stacks of stone, sheets of metal, workbenches, hammers, anvils, and barrels full of fine powders. There was a forge at the circular building's very center. But the gremlin led them past all that, out a rear entrance, and into a walled courtyard. Past the courtyard, over a quaint wooden bridge and beyond a tiny, man-made stream, stood a small palace-like building with a cheerful, bright red door.

"The master," said the gremlin bowing. Fiona grasped hold of the handle to the door.

"Hello?" she said calling inside. Another gremlin greeted her. This one wore a bowtie and trousers instead of the overalls.

"The master," it said, bowing before a fat man in tall chair, smoking a cigar. At his side was a table with eight different kinds of wine, a half-finished glass, and a partly eaten plate of chicken and vegetables. The man snuffed out his cigar and set it aside.

"Well," said the owner of the workshop staring at Aiden with hungry eyes. "A beautiful woman! This is a surprise!"

"My 'sister' and I have come," said Fiona, frowning at the man's interest in his sibling. "Because there was a freak accident with a gate. We are hoping you could explain to us what went wrong, to cause the effects it did." Fiona went on to explain in fine detail. The workshop owner rubbed his chin.

"It is incredible what happened to you," said the mage. "But not impossible. It is my thought that you overloaded the crystal with more magical energy than it could transport and your changes are the result of a backlash of expended energy. All five of you are generals, are you not? I would believe that the combined powers of five masters of magic would be too much for any one mystic crystal to transport at once. Hence, it broke. I could rebuild the gate with the same flaw to try to replicate the reversal magic which changed you. But it would take a crystal of the exact kind that broke. Let's see," said the man snapping his fingers. A gremlin placed a scroll in it. The workshop owner pinned a pair of spectacles to his nose to read.

"That particular gate was built using a Yarbil Stone purchased from Gedoin the Merchant. A wealthy, powerful, not particularly savory man. You must ask him for one like it. Only then I might possibly be of assistance."

"A Yarbil Stone, eh?" said Aiden looking determined. "We'll get one, sir!"

"Yes, you might," warned the workshop owner. "But be wary of the price you may have to pay. Gedoin is one of the wealthiest merchants in the Silver Cities. The price you have to pay might well be steep."

"Thank you, sir," said Fiona properly. "And farewell for now." Aiden and Fiona went out to find their friends at the tavern and to inform of them of the fragile yet promising lead they had found.

Fiona and Aiden had discovered a chance to perhaps transform themselves back into their original forms. That is, they had reason to hope for Aiden to be a male and Fiona to be a female again, as the siblings had been at birth. To do so, all they required was a certain stone and the help of a master craftsman. The aid of their craftsman seemed certain, but the acquisition of the stone was not so sure. Yet, it was good news they had to share with the rest of their fellow transformed adventurers. So, Aiden and Fiona made their way back to the Adventurer's Tavern.

"Well, there's the table where everyone's supposed to be," Fiona announced with firm severity. "I see Nadia! But where are Godric and Anwen? My instructions were clear!"

"I dunno," Aiden responded spritely. "Let's go talk to Nadia." Aiden sauntered across the tavern floor, swinging her hips jauntily. Many of the men in the tavern stopped drinking their ale to gawk and stare at her hindquarters. Fiona's mouth wrinkled up in disgust at the antics of her former brother and slapped herself in the forehead.

"Aiden!" she hissed. "Stop that! Remember you are a noble born of the Unicorn Duchy! Not a hussy working in a tavern nearest her father's farm."

"Sorry," Aiden shrugged. "All my time with succubus in Sheog must have rubbed off on me."

"Well, keep that up and you will call an inquisition down on you from a head priest."

"Nah!" said Aiden swinging his hand down in disagreement and tilting her head with a jaunty smile. "There are no priests of Elwrath, here. We're in wizard territory, remember! And they have a little more fun than the 'ol empire. Nobody will mind."

"Well, I mind," said Fiona still covering her eyes. She then looked away from Aiden and approached their friend, Nadia.

"Brave and knowledgeable mage, Nadia, please tell me you have discovered a cure for our transformation," said Fiona, still coldly furious at her former brother.

"Not at all," said Nadia heaving a sigh deep with regret. Two tears leaked out of the corner of her eye. "What is to become of me? I can not let Cyrus see me like this. What will become of our marriage? We must find a way to reverse this spell!" said Nadia staring through her hands which had become those of an attractive young male mage.

"Don't despair, Nadia!" said Fiona with a faint smile. "Aiden and I have good news for you! There is a chance we might be cured by restoring the gate and entering it a second time. But only if certain conditions are met. Let us tell you the tale of today's exploits," stated Fiona with immense delight.

"So," said Nadia clasping her hands against her chest, pressed close to her heart, as Fiona finished her tale. "We must find the stone the merchant has in his possession and bring it to the owner of the workshop."

"Exactly," said Aiden. If she had a succubus' tail she would have whipped it for emphasis. But making do, her body shaped itself into an undulating curve as she snapped her fingers. "We do that, and we'll be back to normal in no time!"

"Please let it be no time!" said Fiona covering her face again. "Don't you care that men are looking at you?" she scolded Aiden. But Aiden looked across the room, deep in thought but without remorse.

"Well, actually, since I'm a girl it's a buzz to see someone hot and bothered for me. Now I know why Jezebeth was always hanging over me. The power and exhilaration of the female body. The curves! The untamed estrogen!"

"That's it," said Fiona. "I'm calling it a night! Nadia, please keep an eye on my brother for me. Please?" said the former noblewoman looking sick.

"Finally!" said Aiden when Fiona had paid for a room and gone upstairs. "Boy or girl, my siblings are all prudes."

"Actually, Aiden, that's not the case," said Nadia. She blushed and fidgeted.

"I'll say it's not!" said Varkas suddenly appearing before them with three mugs in hand. "Aiden, is that really you?! By Elwrath! It's a good thing your father is already in the grave or news of this would send him there! I nearly had an attack of faint heart, myself."

"Woof!" said Varkas' trusty hound in perfect agreement.

"Varkas?" asked Aiden. "How in the name of the dragon gods did you get to the Silver Cities?"

"I was the traveling companion of an old friend of ours, Lady Anwen. When we got to the top of the wizard's tower, I stopped to rest and by the time I had gathered wind into my chest, Anwen and all of you had gone. Cyrus is ballistic. He was so frantic for his bride to be that I set out to find her. But I found this fellow instead!" said Varkas gesturing to the transformed Nadia. He shook his head sadly.

"I really don't want to break it to Cyrus. So I agreed with Sir Nadia here, to bring back a note instead and act as message bearer until this thing sorts out. For the time being, anyway."

"Woof! Woof!" said Varkas' pet hound wagging his tail and drooling on Aiden's shoe. The female picked up her foot delicately and shifted it away from the stinky, messy dog. She wrinkled her nose in distaste.

"Well, we do have a plan now to transform ourselves back. It's risky and not guaranteed, but it's a shot."

"I am so glad!" Nadia repeated herself. "I wish to find the merchant we must do business with tonight! Except for one thing…" Nadia said lowering her head and blushing modestly, too embarrassed to speak her thoughts out loud. Finally she voiced three words out loud. "Your brother Godric."

"What about my brother? I mean, sister?" Aiden prompted. She tapped her toes against the tavern foot impatiently and leant against her hip as she glared at Nadia, willing her to speak more.

"It's like this, Sir.. I mean Lady Aiden," Varkas said, tugging attention away from the blushing Nadia. "Your older brother and Lady Anwen have this… thing for one another. Don't yell at me about it!" said Varkas holding his hands up in the air in surrender. "I only know it's true. When the two of them returned to the tavern, they said the mages promised to study them to find a cure but that it'd take years. So the next thing I knew, Anwen had rented the largest room in the tavern for the two of them and they went straight away up into it. When they finally came down they reeked of liquor. Then when Nadia came in the front door, they bolted out the rear one. They're somewhere in the Silver City, but it's anyone's guess where!"

"We have to find them!" said Aiden clenching her fists. "The gateway might not reverse the spell on us if all of us aren't using the gate like last time! The gatekeeper said it was because we overloaded the crystal with all of our combined powers! That is why we switched! The magic of all of us was too much for the gate crystal!"

"Ah! I'm such a fool!" said Nadia holding her forehead in her hands. "Of course! Stabilization of energy fields and load limits! It's basic magic theory! I can't believe I did not stop to think!"

"None of us did, mage," said Aiden mildly. "Don't beat yourself up for it. Chaos happens. All we can do about it try to keep it governed as best as we can. Speaking of which, Varkas. We really should catch Anwen and my darling 'sister' Godric. Will you come with me?"

"I would, yes." said the knight ruffling his dog's head and frowning slightly.

"Very well!" said Nadia taking a spyglass out of her pocket. "Varkas, get me a map! From anyone you can!"

"Yes, lady," said the knight as nobly as he could, circumstances being what they were. Varkas went to go speak to a knot of wayfarers in the tavern's corner and exchanged a piece of gold with them. It was not long before the steel-clothed knight slowly strode back to them across the tavern floor.

"Here. I have hired the map for a few minutes at the cost of a few drinks. I must return it to them when I am done. If you need it for longer, you should have a copy made."

"No need!" said Nadia pulling something out of her pocket. It flashed a brief reflection of the lamplight of tavern's interior. "This will not take long! Look!" said she placing a small circle of glass mounted in a metal frame against the parchment. Then she pointed. A splotch of shimmering light glimmered on the yellow parchment. It was there that they should look. A few minutes later, Aiden, Varkas, and Nadia had walked to the open-air market a few streets' distance from the tavern. Over the din of the crowd and amongst the vaporous smells of cooked food for sale, they spotted their missing companions lurking among the booths.

"Sir Anwen! A word with you!" Nadia called across the crowd. Godric and Anwen both grimaced then walked closer.

"Yes? Do you wish to say something?" Godric said nervously, her now female voice fluttering like a bird's.

"A whole lot of somethings!" Aiden sneered crossing her arms. "Just what do you think you are doing, Godric? You're not acting like yourself. Or a noble of the Unicorn Duchy."

"We've found a way to reverse the transformation," said Nadia cutting through the conversation. But the atmosphere only grew more tense with her revelation.

"Oh is that so?" said Anwen tightening a draped hand's hold around Godric's waist. Then, the tension on Answen's face snapping, the elf knocked his shoulder into Godric's.

"Run!" Anwen hollered. Picking up her skirts, Godric and Anwen ran away down the street, hand in hand. Aiden gaped after them.

"What in the name of the dragon gods has gotten into my brother?"

"Sister," Varkas corrected.

"Yes, sister," Aiden grumbled. "Fiona isn't going to like this!"

"They're getting away!" said Nadia pointing. Her face had taken on a desperate, predatory look. "Let's get them!"

"Very well," said Varkas. He looked downward at his hound companion and whistled to it.

"Find Anwen!" Varkas commanded.

"Woof!" replied his pet hound. It wagged its tail, then lowered its head to the ground before him. The hound trotted forward, whipping his tail back and forth as he went. Varkas, Aiden, and Nadia followed it in pursuit.

"Ah-ha!" said Nadia with delight when they cornered Anwen and Godric in a courtyard with high stone walls. "We've got you now! Surrender and come back to the tavern with us!"

"Never!" said Godric pulling out his, now her sword to defend herself with.

"Really, old friend, come to your senses!" said Varkas pulling out his own battle blade to defend himself with. Godric made a few chops, then overbalanced a bit and stumbled back against Anwen.

"Wow, fighting is so much harder all of a sudden. I feel top-heavy."

"It's the breasts, beloved," said Anwen catching Godric's shoulder on either side. Godric sheathed the sword and they turned to run again. But this time, Anwen surprised them all by leaping to catch the top of the nearest wall. Anwen then yanked himself up to its top. Crouched, Anwen lowered a hand to yank Godric up. Godric scrabbled up the wall, pulled along by Anwen's hand and digging her boots against the wall stones.

"Damn that elf!" Nadia sputtered. "She'll ruin everything between Cyrus me! We can't let them escape!" A bit of magic appeared between the mage's hands. Aiden gulped.

"Eh, don't forget we are trying to get my sister and our dear friend back alive, alright?"

"Oh, yeah," Nadia apologized. "Sorry!"

"It's okay!" said Nadia suddenly. "All we need a is another map!" They borrowed one from a friendly traveling merchant this time.

"There!" said Nadia pointing to a magical glimmer on the parchment. They hurried over to the place on the map only to find a bucket of paint and some abandoned paintbrushes.

"What's this?" Nadia huffed.

"Looks like graffiti to me!" said Aiden leaning over the bucket. As she did so her, breasts popped forward and Varkas and Nadia both coughed, looked away from the display.

"Elwrath, give me strength!" Varkas muttered to himself.

"Woof?" his dog asked.

"A whole lot of woof!" said Varkas patting his friend's head.

"Woof, woof!" the hound dog commented happily.

"I have no idea what you and the dog are saying about me, but I'll take it as a compliment," said Aiden. "Now what are we going to do about this?" She pointed at the wall where the words "Anwen and Godric were here," were painted in bright letters. "Wait until the liquor wears off, maybe?"

"We MUST find them!" Nadia disagreed firmly. She pulled out the map and the magical eyeglass again. "There! They've slipped down to the docks!"

As Nadia had predicted by magical means, they did find Anwen and Godric by the waterside, but the two had swiped a little rowing fishing boat and were far out into the river.

"Nah-nah-nah!" shouted Anwen waving a row overhead in taunt.

"Godric, be reasonable!" Aiden shouted. "You can't go back to the the Griffin Empire looking like that! Unless you want to forfeit your title to Fiona here!" But the golden-haired, now-female knight lifted her nose up into the air with a sniff.

"We could borrow that boat," Varkas suggested helpfully. They found a leaky little rowboat and did their best to keep up the escapees, but the best they could do was tail them down the river to a garrison on the edge of a marsh. Grounding themselves at last, they knocked on the broad gate to the fortress.

"Hello? Anwen! Godric! We know you're in there!" Nadia ground-out, very annoyed. "Come out!" Anwen and Godric appeared on the rampart.

"Never!" the two shouted throwing rotten vegetables at their former companions. Nadia was livid.

"That does it!" she sputtered shaking a fist. "We'll get you out of there by force then!"

"You and what army?" asked Anwen.

"We'll be back by dawn tomorrow!" Nadia promised. "You'll see!"

After a fitful night in the tavern, the next day Nadia was back as she had threatened. She had recruited an army of gremlins and a few djinns. She had also brought with her Fiona, and the peeved sibling had resurrected an entire graveyard outside the city to be her skeleton warriors. Both of the former women were ready to slap sense into Godric by whatever means necessary.

"Give up!" Fiona and Nadia both shouted across the marsh.

"No!" Anwen and Godric snouted back, sticking their tongues out and making faces at Fiona and Nadia. Varkas and Aiden could only watch as the battle began. The garrison Anwen and Godric had holed themselves up in was stocked with a wide assortment of wild creatures who chewed and stung and fireballed Fiona and Nadia's small army to shreds.

"That does it!" said Fiona casting a high-level spell to summon a liche. The undead ghost drifted through the ranks of combatants and cast a ghostly chain around the Godric and Anwen so that they were bound.

"Ah-ha!" said Fiona triumphantly as her ghost delivered its prisoners to her. "We've got you now!"

"Aw, come on, Fiona!" pleaded Anwen. "Do you really want to stand in the way of love?"

"Love?" Fiona remarked. "The only love I know about is poor Nadia who WAS going to get married to Cyrus in a few months. She needs to transform back into a woman to pursue her dream of being a wife and you two are not going to interfere with that!"

"The merchant is waiting!" Nadia declared ruthlessly. Fiona and Nadia dragged their to prisoners along with them.

The merchant which the gate manufacturer had spoken of as indeed as rich as he had suggested. More so even. His home and place of business was a palace more ostentatious than any other in the Silver Cities, including that of its regent. Camels and donkey-pulled carts laden with goods streamed in and out the luxurious warehouse gates. Middlemen merchants came and went with important sealed parchments. But one of the guards acknowledged Nadia when she arrived at the metal gate with all of her fellow transformed companions.

"Mage Nadia," said the man sniffing and swishing his whiskers from side to side as though stifling a sneeze or a laugh. "My master himself is waiting to speak to you on your desired purchase. It is a costly material you seek, so he is going to make the negotiations himself. I will guide you to him."

"Rats!" said Aiden looking wistfully at the slightly humbler warehouse where most of the merchant's guests were heading and towards the grand and costly palace which shone with a gold leaf and magic gemstone vanished roof, studded on the gable ends with statues of wizard summons holding real rubies. "It bodes less well for us this way! What if he decides he needs a new southern wing? Or a gambling vacation to the Dwarves' Bear Races?"

"Don't give up!" Nadia pleaded. But Fiona swept on ahead, looking grimmer than ever.

Soon, they came to what might honestly be said to be a throne room for the great merchant. The broad, dome-roofed hall was elaborately painted with blue and green nature murals and strewn with pillows and other costly textiles. Beside a magically sustained hearth, a magic rug larger than Nadia's scratched itself on the ear by fireside like a sleepy dog. Aiden stared at it. But she stared, too, and the five hundred pound overweight man who sat in the center of a feast spread out on a long, low wooden table.

"Honored customers!" said Gedoin the merchant. "Mage Nadia. You are still interested in the Yarbil Stone as we discussed? Then sit, sit, and we will sign a contract for your payment!"

"I wish to read the contract, yes!" Nadia protested. "You did not set a price when last we met."

"I have thought long and hard on what I want, and I have recorded my asking price on the contract," said the man. "Although it is negotiable. I might take goods instead if you are short, or you may take out a line of credit with me and pay the interest."

"Interest?!" sputtered Aiden rushing forward to take the scroll of parchment from Nadia's hand and rolling it open. "What could he be asking? Oh my!" Aiden's jaw dropped. Nadia's did too.

"What are you two looking at?" Fiona uttered. "You look as if you've seen your own ghost. Oh!" Fiona's eyes widened, too, at the number. She covered her mouth with one hand. "But it would take all the resources of several kingdoms to buy!"

"It'd only cost all the treasures of the Sylvan, Humans, and Wizards combined!" Aiden muttered narrowing his eyes at the wicked merchant.

"But there is only one stone such as you are seeking," the merchant countered. "Thus, it is immensely valuable."

"It's only a material stone!" Aiden lashed out angrily.

"And it is the only means by which Nadia may reverse her transformation. And who are you?" the greedy merchant sniffed.

"A friend," Aiden tossed nonchalantly. The merchant's eyes glimmered with greedy inspiration.

"Well, if the price tag is too steep for you, then how about this? The price shall be 100,000 gold, paid over the next thirty years, and this young red-head for my harem. She seems like an agreeable addition to my collection."

"What?!" Everyone shouted.

"Fine, I agree to the conditions!" Nadia shouted back, sending everyone into a new round of shock.

"Now hold on just a minute!" said Aiden. "I'm not willing to agree to that! No way!" But Fiona's eyes glimmered hard.

"May I speak to you for a minute alone, dear sister?" Fiona uttered. He shoved Aiden into a large closet but it was the skeletal hand of a wraith that pulled the wardroom door closed. When Aiden stumbled out of the closet a few minutes later, she was very pale.

"Very well," mumbled Aiden. "We'll go with Nadia's plan."

"Excellent!" said the sleazy merchant while Anwen and Godric glared daggers at Fiona and Nadia.

"At last!" said Fiona as they left the palace of Gedoin the Merchant. "Soon I won't be bothered by girls looking at me in a perverted way!" She shivered.

"But you are a male," Varkas noted. "And more, you have agreed to sell your own sister! Does that not strike your conscience?" Nadia and Fiona locked eyes with one another.

"No!" both agreed with a sniff. "We can help Aiden escape as soon as we get the Yarbil Stone. If he's transformed back into a male, there's no way Gedoin will want to stay married." The two snickered.

"Indeed," said Varkas, his throat deep with moral disappointment.

So it was that a wedding day for poor, miserable Aiden was arranged with a great deal of fanfare. The gate to Gedoin's Palace was opened to accommodate guests from all over the city and every inch of his courtyards packed with outdoor entertainers and their audience. Everyone could get a piece of bread and honey to eat or a cup of tea or camel's milk, but inside the palace itself they were making roasted peacock in fig sauce.

"I hate this!" Aiden whine rearranging her wedding veil. "Why couldn't Gedoin turn out to be someone young and sexy?"

"Ill luck?" Godric suggested mildly. "I do not agree to this wedding, either, Aiden! Anwen and I don't want the stone! At the very least, I need for them to hold off transforming us for a bit."

"How long?" said Aiden raising an eyebrow curiously.

"About nine more months," Godric uttered seriously.

"For the love of! Elwrath, save me!" said Aiden lifting her eyes. "Or actually, Varkas! You over there! Yes, you!" said Aiden pointing.

"Me?" asked the knight looking around to see if anyone was watching.

"Yes, you!" Aiden said wagging a finger at him. "You're supposed to be a noble knight and all that! What happened to saving a lady in distress?"

"You… you're right," said Varkas taking off his helm and kneeling to kiss Aiden's hand. "Made by magic or not, a lady is a lady still. And I would be no true knight at all if I left you to suffer your brothers' evil designs."

"Yes!" Aiden agreed, her eyes sparkling in triumph.

When the wedding procession began, Varkas was mysteriously nowhere to be seen. Aiden continued to whine loudly even as she marched down the aisle. Godric and Anwen had been let free of their ropes for the occasion, but they both did not seem inclined to run. Instead, the two shared a conspiratorial wink.

"Oh beloved brothers!" said Godric at last. "Anwen here has a question!"

"Yes!" Anwen declared over the wedding gathering. "Before you give your beloved sister away, it might be wise to make sure that Gedoin has made good on his part of the wedding dowry. He should hand over the Yarbel Stone."

"I have the stone, here!" said the sleezy merchant gesturing for two blue djinn to unwrap a tall box wrapped like a present. As the sides to the box were lowered to fall away, Anwen approached the stone.

"Well, gee, Nadia! I don't know as much about magic as you! But that doesn't look like a Yarbel Stone to me!" Anwen said grinning maniacally with suppressed laughter.

"Let me see!" said Nadia snatching the stone up into her hand. A bit of magic swirled up from her hand into the rock to test it. Nadia watched with wide, stunned eyes as the white, dull stone shattered into particles of dust at her touch.

"Gedoin!" Nadia glowered, her hands fisted. "You have cheated us!"

"Not I, Great Mage!" said the merchant cowering in case the angry mage fireballed him to death. "Some one must have stolen the real Yarbil Stone!"

"And destroyed it!" said Varkas stepping boldly through the crowd. "I could not let such innocents as Lady Nadia suffer because of selfishness and greed."

"My hero!" said Aiden leaping up into Varkas' arms before the knight boosted her up onto a horse. They fled.

"Wow, we should do that, too!" said Anwen. "But I don't see any horses. Do mind if we ride this camel instead?" Anwen asked Godric.

"Hm. It will do!" Godric agreed before being boosted up onto a saddle on the lumpy animal.

"Into the sunset!" said Anwen with glee pointing to the faraway horizon. He slapped the camel's reins and they followed Varka's and Nadia's lead in fleeing the Silver Cities. As Godric and Anwen disappeared into the desert sunset, Nadia broke out into tears.

"Oh! That's it! We're finished!" the mage lamented.

"This is terrible!" said Fiona opening her bag and taking a mirror a green glowing surface instead of glass and real skulls embedded in the silver back.

"Markel! Markel!" Fiona called into the mirror before the necromancer replied. Then his arrogant, yet witty voice came resonating their the powerful artifact of necromancy.

"What ails you, Fiona? Some rare illness? That tiresome bore of a prince?"

"No, worse!" said Fiona, her cheeks bright red with anger. "There was an accident of magic and, well… I hate to say it friend… it is humiliating, but… I have been transformed into a man! I will never become Queen of the Griffin Empire now!"

"Oh is that all?" said the handsome, black-locked, still alive-for-the-moment necromancer. "In that case you can marry me instead of your prince."

"What?!" Fiona gaped. "But I'm a male, didn't you hear me? I'm not the woman you admired."

"I've always admired your for your mind and spirit, dear Fiona!" Markel corrected. "Undead or living. Female or male. My offer for you to remain in Heresh stays the same. Besides," continued the necromancer. "Have you ever heard of fortune-telling? Sure you'll be queen, but if you stay in canon, then in a few years I'll lose my mind and you'll be a skull used as a cool-looking prop during villian scenes. Better to be gay and alive than irrevocably dead."

"Well," said Fiona thinking it over. "Maybe."

"And your friend that mage, Nadia there!" said Markel. "I've been looking these things over and I'm always right. You know I am. If she marries Cyrus, she'll die of childbirth in a few years. This way, she can become the ruler of the Silver Cities instead of snooty old Cyrus. For everyone it's a win-win. Except the delightfully down-to-earth son she might have had. But no matter! Trust me, it's better for everyone this way! So what do you say, hm? Will you come back to Heresh? For me?"

"Well," said Fiona folding at last. "Very well! I will come to study more necromancy in Heresh."

"I can hardly wait!" said Markel smiling that cunning smile that predated his now hopefully averted supervillain years. But if not, now Fiona and Markel could be supervillians together.

"Well!" said Fiona putting away her magic mirror. "What will you do, Nadia?" the noblewoman asked her friend the mage.

"Enter the university, I guess," said Nadia. "Drown my woes in ale? Break it to Cyrus?" Nadia patted her on the back.

"You heard Markel!" said Fiona. "Perhaps this IS all for the best. I had my fortune read, too, once you know? And it said my son by Griffin would be turned into a vampire lord and the entire Griffin Empire would perish with him. At least now that won't happen. Children are ill-fated for you, too! Let's buy you a three-tailed fox sprite instead. You can name it and brush it and teach it low-level spells!"

"Sounds great!" said Nadia smiling as they strolled off to the busy mage market. "Can I get one in pink?"

"Only if I get one in purple!" replied Fiona, feeling pleasantly optimistic about the whole thing.

**Epilogue**

"Okay, okay," said Anwen the elf as he frowned across a dusty courtyard. It was dusty because two pre-teen, rowdy, brown-locked half-elf boys were practicing their knight skills with fake, wooden swords. Another, taller, boy child was practicing archery down the lane. Before the plain edifice of an unpainted, clapboard house, a small girl with slightly pointed ears and curls of blond hair sat on the stoop reading a book. "I won't forget the carrots. Or the cabbage. Let me be, will ya?"

"Don't spend the whole day out the woods chasing rabbits!" Godric, in a blue plain-blue blouse and riding pants, affectionately cuffed her husband. "You have a family to be responsible for."

"Bah," Anwen spoke with mock-enthusiasm. "Responsibility is tiresome. Maybe it would have been better if I'd stayed the girl."

"Knock that off! Dear," Godric amended in a more feminine way. "The boys will be old enough to be soldiers soon enough."

"More fodder for the wars of Ashan, probably," Anwen remarked softly, yet his face was painful in the truth as he pulled on his shaved chin. "But you you train them well."

"Thank you. I hope they will be heroes someday. Like us."

"Your faith is ever inspiring, love. I'll be sure to bring plenty of carrots. After all, our old friends are coming over to visit." Humming, Anwen strolled out of the courtyard of a city home and into the city where he had made a home for himself, and his family.

The transformation magic had caused an uproar in both their families when the truth was found out. Their elf and human marriage had caused an even greater uproar, so they had both taken all the money and resources they could grasp from their hometowns and moved to a metropolitan trading city on the coast. Land was scarce and the houses overpriced, but at least no one made much of a quarrel about the oddity of their marriage. So Anwen had started "Anwen and Son's Meat-Trading Company," because as former generals, slaying things was all both she and Godric knew. But from time to time, there was mercenary work. Perhaps Anwen and Godric would take up the military trade again once their children were full grown, but for now, Godric was more dutiful a mother than Anwen ever would have been. So things were not all bad, on the balance.

There were even things to look forward to. Godric's brother, now turned sister as was he, was here to visit. Things were never cemented, always stirring in disorderly change when it came to Aiden. Godric's sibling Aiden had spent enough time in Sheog to be influenced by the succubus in their taste in lifestyle. Which meant never committing to a single man. Poor Varkas, the noble knight, had been her flame for only a few months before her hips had attracted the attention of a romantic rival. So Aiden had bounced between attractions, turning the heads of many folk before possibly turning, well, lebian. Godric was never sure, for Aiden never delved too deeply into her own romantic secrets.

Sure enough, when Anwen returned home from the market with a basketful of cabbage and carrots, Aiden was there. Seated on a stool and leaning by one arm against the counter, she was as scantily clad as ever, with a tight-leather bodice, tall boots, and revealing waistband, and two daggers resting in blade sheathes against her hips. Aiden at least, had not forsaken the military trade. She was the leading general of a small army which took great delight in chasing bandits up and down the coast.

"And then she laughed at me!" Aiden complained with mirth. "She laughed at me! And she said, 'Oh are you going to turn into a succubus next? I think you'd make a good recruit.' And I said, 'Well, you're cute sweet-heart, but not that cute. I like the work I do now.' Speaking of which, we've been making a lot of money off these bandits. So I'm thinking on investing in your company."

"Actually," said Godric sensibly. "I've been thinking that maybe some of your men could guard the ships which carry our goods?"

"Let's buy our own ships!" Aiden exclaimed. With glee, she forced a high-five on the much more stoic Godric. "I'll take my men to the seas and rule the coastline!"

"Ahem," said a new voice with much more gravity. A dark foreboding rolled over the house as their former sister, Fiona, strolled in, along with a skeleton to carry her travelbag for her. An undead horse stood outside the door. It gave Anwen the shivers.

"Sisters. I have returned."

"Ugh, don't do that Fiona! You should leave your necromancy pets outside of the house," Aiden complained with a sharp grimace.

"The dead are everywhere," Fiona remarked sinisterly, "as is death. It is the second sister to life. Indeed, there are many cattle bones in the yard of this house. There is the couple who used to own this house buried beneath that tree on the hill," said Fiona pointing off to the north. "You will pass on, too, dear sister, in due time."

"Ugh, I see spending all your time with Markel hasn't made you any livelier," Aiden groused with crossed eyes. "How is your 'ol, half-crazed mentor anyway?"

"Keeping to Heresh. He is unwelcome in Griffin lads for doing things not quite legal. But his studies into the truths of Asha go well."

"Please refrain from becoming a criminal element, Fiona," Godric pleaded. "You are of a noble house."

"I will not forget the due diligence I owe to the Unicorn Duchy," Fiona agreed with liquid nobleness. "But we are missing one more guest. Our dear friend, Nadia. She sends word that she will not be here tonight."

"Why not?" asked Godric

"Why not?" echoed Aiden. She stood up on her tiptoes, eager to hear more. She had been looking forward to seeing the powerful mage whom was a close friend to all of them.

"Well, Fiona is going through a difficult time in her life, again. The First-Circle of mages is trying to sort out whether or not to leave her in her position as newest member of the Highest Order. As you know, Fiona had worked her way up their ranks. But some are newly questioning her position because of bias. She has sent a long a message that she is too busy proving herself at her post."

"What happened?" Anwen could not help but ask. Wizard folk were curious people.

"Well, it all started at the tournaments," Fiona explained. "Nadia was sparring with are rare mystical creature- a female djinn. He swung his staff out to vanquish it, but then a curious thing happened. It took a … romantic interest in Nadia. After all, he has become a finely muscled mage quite skilled in magic arts and potent in magical harmonies. The djinn wrapped itself around his torso and called the match. So Nadia won. Nadia could have walked away from the strange turn of events. But it seems he was becoming accustomed to his male form, so years later, when he came in possession of a female djinn himself, a questionable relationship began."

"Ah! Terrible news," Godric grieved. "So the wizards of the First Circle wish to remove him from his post because of it?"

"Um. No," Fiona said with great reluctance. Her cheeks were so pale she could hardly blush, but she did so, which relieved Anwen. It meant she had not chosen to give up her mortal lifespan to become a necromancer resurrect. "The most bizarre portion of the news is yet to come. After some time, Nadia quarreled with the djinn and proposed to sell it back to its previous master. In retaliation, the djinn did something which djinns on occasion do. It used trickery on Nadia. It asked him if he wanted her to fulfill one of his wishes. Nadia was not wary enough. Most know that you can never trust genies, but Nadia imprudently agreed. The wish the genie granted was a deep-buried one- to become a woman once more. So Nadia has now become a woman again. Some of the First Circle are trying to remove her from her post for this reason. Their Order has never before included any women." Aiden slapped a hand against her forehead.

"So you are telling me, all we had to do to transform back to normal was to anger a genie? We did not need a gate stone or anything?" Aiden put her chin on her hand, leant forward more so that her cleavage showed and pouted. More modest, Anwen coughed and looked away.

"Hm," Godric mulled, deep in thought as she looked up at Anwen by the doorframe. "Sit down, dear. What do you think? Should we…"

"Transform back?" Anwen pulled on her chin where the stubble of a beard was beginning to grow in. "It is a thought." He closed his eyes to remember his youth. The rush and thrill and beauty of being a young woman, treading the the forest, pursuing after deer in her bare feet. The day she was was promoted with ceremonial rites to elven ranger. The women's hair comb her father had given her before he died. But then Anwen opened his eyes and what he saw before him was the present, his four children crowding at the door with a unified perplexed, worried stare.

"I think we should stay as we are for the moment," spoke Anwen at length. "After all, you never know about genies. They could transform us into mushroom pie on a whim. Besides, we are fine. We have all we could ever wish for. Different, but fine."

"I am in agreement," Godric said with a small smile slipping onto her face as she looked at Fiona. Fiona shut her eyes and sighed.

"So be it. It has become irrelevant to my own future whether I am male or female. My current magical studies may take more than a lifetime to complete and there are more mentors besides Markel to gain knowledge from."

"Ew. Just never brings your undead armies into these regions, okay?" said Aiden jabbing a finger in Fiona's directions. "Me and my mercs will be forced to deal with 'em."

"So we all are to accept our current situation? You will not seek a cure to reverse the changes we suffered because of the broken mana gate?"

"Nah," Aiden spoke for all of them. "We've adapted. Why try to bring back a past that was always uncertain anyway? We are older and wiser these days. That's what counts. I won't waste my time crying for the good ol' days when happiness is just a product of imagination."

"It's also the product of warm meals and good beer, I think," Anwen interrupted. "Which we have. Godric?"

"Yes," Godric affirmed the half-uttered question. The occasional knight, full-time baker opened an oven to pull out a full tray of good, hot, deliciously-buttered dinner rolls. And so everyone had a bit of paradise for a moment in a world ever full of the unexpected.


End file.
